clever as the devil...

Alex Cole. Thirty-four. Assassin. Leader of the Diamonds.

[alexdiamonds]

marshallford:

There wasn’t much else he felt he could say. Even though he didn’t voice his opinions very often, he was in the same boat as some of the others. Uneasy and uncertain. But, this was his boss now and Marshall had to put his faith in him because he was in this for the long haul. He was also near the bottom of the Diamonds chain, so he felt he was out of place or stepping out of line if he said how he really felt about this whole cluster fuck.

“No, that was about it.” he took the cue and stood up from the chair, pulling on the front of his jacket to smooth it out. Of course he had heard some grumblings from the other members, but that was on them to voice their concerns. He wasn’t about to be labeled a narc for telling the boss what people were saying behind his back and some of the rumors swirling around. 

“I know Bobby pretty well. I can hit him up for a drink and poke around, if it will do any good.” he offered. It had been an unlikely friendship at first, but the more the two talked the more they realized they had a lot in common. He figured it was the least he could do. 

Marshall only lingered for a few more moments before heading to the door. There was still a sense of doubt in regards to the Diamonds situation, but he felt like he was taking up too much of Alex’s time. The man had answered the few important questions that he had and it would have to do for now. He was halfway out the door before he turned around to give Alex some reassurance that he could count on him. “If anything turns up I’ll let you know right away.”  

“Sounds like a plan to me. Get a handle on what’s floating around out there.” It seemed like solid ground to put his feet on, for once, something he appreciated. Marshall didn’t seem like the type that took any bullshit, and Alex was grateful for that. It was something he needed - someone to be straightforward, a quality that was shockingly lacking, all things considered.

The reassurance, too, was well appreciated, a smile of sorts flickering across Alex’s features as he nodded Marshall’s way. “We’ll hold you to that, Ford.” He waited until the man was gone before he sank down into his chair again, taking a deep breath in - and getting straight back to work.

[end]

[alexdiamonds]

need you now | tessa

[alexdiamonds]

tessa-cross:

Because I miss you. The reaction couldn’t have been more split - A stab in the center of her chest that stole the air from her lungs an ugly mixture of longing and shock. She wanted that, wanted him to miss her and come back…But here she was pushing him away, fighting against herself to try and keep him away while at the same time selfishly wanting him to herself. She was being pulled in too many directions, drawn and quartered by her own thoughts and feelings.

“Then why leave me?” The words came quietly and what most likely was the calmest tone she had spoken in since his arrival. Slowly she found herself sinking down the wall until she was seated, Olivia still held protectively close. “You didn’t give it a chance. You told me and you ended things. You can’t—” Her eyes drifted down to the child in her arms, their daughter, the perfect combination of the two of them wrapped up in a bundle of innocence.  “You can’t leave me to raise her on my own and think she won’t make me think of you. She makes me think of cinnamon rolls and cheesecake, of masquerades and pools, of every time I cleaned you up and never questioned it.” Slowly her eyes lifted to him and she swallowed thickly. This was going to be their vicious cycle - A constant dance around the elephant in the room - And it seemed she had finally become too exhausted by it all to bother holding back any longer. What came next, in her mind, was obvious but still needed to be said and could provide the chance for them to finally come to terms with their situation, whatever that would mean. “She is a daily reminder that after all of this, even now, that I still love you. I love you, Alex, but you–” Tessa paused to find her voice but even then the words managed to catch in her throat. “You can’t move on if you keep doing this and at this point I don’t know what to do or what you want.”

He felt tired, frustrated, not with her but just their situation at large. It felt like they had had this conversation a million times, never really reaching any reasonable conclusions. Naturally that was his own fault - he had created this distance that had only made things worse and then closed the gap again and again just to tear it back open, he was the one that couldn’t articulate what it was he wanted from all of this.

He let her speak and simply let what she said hang for a few moments, stewing over it with his arms coming to cross over his chest - closing off a little bit, the exhaustion with everything creeping up on him because the circles were getting to be too much. “I want a do over, you know? I want this to not be so fucked up.” The words slipped out before he could catch himself or think of the little listening ears. “But that’s not going to happen.” He shifted on his feet. “So I guess what I can try to do is - I dunno. I want to try and make things better for you both. Whatever that entails. I want you to tell me how I can do that. Even if it’s never coming back. Just - let me give you what you need. Help you.” He searches her gaze, as even as he can be, given the circumstance though there’s a pain buried in it. “Please.”

[alexdiamonds]

julie-bryant:

Julie found herself walking through the streets of Manhattan, a shopping bag in one hand and her daughter’s hand in the other. She’d planned on training today, but Hannah’s sitter had fallen through and she didn’t trust anyone else to keep the little girl safe. She also had some work to do in the form of personal shopping for a client’s upcoming event. It was amazing to watch Hannah walk around the stores and pick out dresses she thought were pretty. Julie couldn’t have been more proud.

Julie also knew that in order for Hanna to sit super quietly, she’d had to bribe her with a little bit of ice cream, which was fine every once in awhile. The streets were crowded today, and without really knowing why, she squeezed her daughter’s hand tighter. She barely noticed, taking lots of licks on her ice cream cone so it wouldn’t melt down her hand.

Julie was stopped by the front page of a newspaper, the picture catching her eye. One of her clients, which she’d never say out loud. Most of them preferred not to be talked about and Julie understood more than anyone why that would be the case. She went to grab the paper when someone else grabbed it first. Her eyes shot up and she gave the person a tentative smile. “Great minds, apparently.”

“Guess so.” Alex huffed an amused sound, glancing at the newspaper - some debutante he cared little for on the front cover - before he offered it over to the blonde in front of him, meeting her gaze. “Go ahead. Plenty of other newstands nearby I can grab it from.” He had been inspired lately to start catching up on the news. His new position meant he needed to keep updated on what was happening in the city in all ways, but he knew he certainly wasn’t the only one. It’d mean a little detour, but he could afford it, clearing his throat.

He was ready to leave the exchange at that, turning to look over the other papers and magazines and other assorted offerings on the newstand when his eyes landed on the little girl grasping the woman’s hand, licking an ice cream cone and looking around her with big eyes. He wasn’t good with children by any means - hell, he had only ever seen his own child a handful of times in the few months since she’d been born, honestly. But something in that reflection had him seeing Olivia in the little girl’s gaze and he shook his head a little bit, offering the owner of the stand a few bills to pay for the woman’s paper and a packet of cigarettes for himself. “Never too chilly for ice cream, is it?” He murmured, half-addressed to the little girl and half to her mother - friendly with them.

[buckykingofmemes]

keep trying until you run out of bullets. or you get tired. you know. whichever comes first.

[alexdiamonds]

thequeenxfhearts:

Quiet. Her heart hadn’t been in it since Matt’s death. The Hearts had been something they had built together. It had been Matt making the tough decisions. But now she was saddled with a toddler and an organisation that murdered people. It wasn’t exactly an easy role to juggle. Nodding towards the bartender as he refilled her drink, she swung her glance back towards Alex. “Oh come on Cole, I’m the best company you could ask for right now.”

“Yeah, you might be. That’s sad, isn’t it? Neither of us has anything better to be doing, huh?” He watched the bartender fill her glass, trying to get a read on her. Rosalie herself seemed quiet, the spirit that had filled their previous encounters lackluster. Not that he could entirely blame her, given the circumstances, what little information had filtered up to him. He shifted on the stool, keeping his eyes down in his own glass. “....I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. You know better than anyone I never saw eye to eye with Matt but - it sucks either way. Even though I know you’re probably sick of the ‘my sympathies’ card by now.”

[alexdiamonds]

vincentxrossi:

“Someone who earns a lot more money than me.” That was probably the most truthful he was going to be in this whole conversation. Sometimes the best lies came from the truth - it made it that much more believable. “Pharmaceutical company,” he explained. No way he was mentioning what his actual job was. “I deal with spreadsheets and files for the local pharmacies, making sure they get their stock….that sort of thing. Trust me, it’s as boring as it sounds.” Writer…..well that could explain why he looked familiar. He probably saw him at some of the press conferences that precinct had. “Sounds a lot better than my job. What kind of stories do you write?”

“Sounds about right.” Alex smiled crookedly, nodding in agreement. “ “The man’. Always trying to get you down.” His interest is piqued at the mention of pharmaceuticals, even though his companion seemed eager to play it off - just as interesting, in his opinion. It was an unknowing battle of wits, it seemed - a journalist and a cop, both meant to pick up lies, though neither suspected the other. “Paycheck is a paycheck,” he remarks lightly, raising his brows. “There are worse things you could be doing with your time. Telemarketing or - I dunno. Working a cash register somewhere.” He waves a hand, pulling a sip from his glass and shaking his head. 

“A little bit of everything. I think the crime stories are the most.... fun, I guess, though.” That was true enough, most of what he had actually written. “Maybe fun is the wrong word. But god knows this city is never lacking with those stories.” He glanced toward the TV, absently checking the score. “At least we’re apparently cutting back on the goddamn bombs.”

[alexdiamonds]

cooper-delaney:

“Yeah, I hear you, man…” Cooper agreed with a slight smirk, glancing across the crowded coffee shop with a shake of his head. “Thank you… Jack,” he spoke as he tugged the chair out, settling easily into the seat. The man took a moment to unpack, setting his sack lunch and coffee on the table before lifting out of his set some to tug the rolled newspaper from his back pocket. “Beats the hell out of being out there, though,” he commented casually, nodding to the window where a small group had taken their coffee to go and were moving past on their way to wherever they were off to.

He urged the sack lunch to the side of the surface, allowing him room to unroll and spread out his paper. He wasn’t much of a news reader, picked through to the funnies when he was bored, but a little bird had told him there would be some interesting reading today. “I’m Cooper, by the way,” he offered, looking over the paper and across at Jack and trying not to let his distraction show.

“No shit. Most of this city wouldn’t know how to slow down if a vacation ran them over.” He couldn’t help but chuckle, glancing up fully from his screen to meet Cooper’s eyes - a sort of ruggedly handsome type that some part of him couldn’t help but appreciate for a few beats. He eyed the newspaper out of curiosity more than anything - barely having paid any attention to print papers since the day he’d left the Herald. He wondered what people were saying, what the outside world seemed to think, feeling stupid for not making that more of a priority sooner.

His eyes flicked up from the newsprint when Cooper spoke, Alex shifting and nodding his way. “Pleasure, Cooper.” He looked back at his laptop, typing for a few moments and speaking without looking up from his screen. “Anything good in the news, or is it all still just neverending doom and gloom these days? You know what they say - if it bleeds, it leads.”

[alexdiamonds]

Mother, I know That you're tired of being alone Dad, I know you're trying To fight when you feel like flying If you love me, don't let go If you love me, don't let go

[alexdiamonds]

cooper-delaney:

Pale eyes skimmed the noisy dining area over again. Geeze. The place was packed. Cooper wasn’t quite sure what he had been expecting when he made his lunch choice. It was cold out, and the small coffee shop provided the perfect warm escape. Apparently he wasn’t the only one to think of it, either. The lone man was glad at least he had a moment to stand there and plot where he might snag a seat while the baristas prepped his coffee. Then came the call. “Country?” a voice spoke from behind the counter as she read the name on the cup with some uncertainty. The woman passed him the hot drink with a pleasant smile as he approached, and he put on a half-assed grin in return. This was one of the few times he cursed someone for their speedy service. Cooper murmured his thanks as he lazily slipped the coffee into a cardboard sleeve, slow to turn again toward the crowded seating area and resume his search. No one was budging, and it was starting to look like he would have to take his lunch on the road when finally he spotted something promising. A lone stranger sat to themselves with an open seat across the table from them. It was one of those small, intimate tables for two, but hell, he didn’t take up much space. Cooper hesitated a moment, gaze skimming across the coffee shop to see if anyone was on their way back to the seat before he made his move. “Excuse me,” he spoke as he approached, coffee in one hand and a brown paper sack in the other, “Mind if I sit?” His mouth curled in a hopeful little smile.

“Be my guest.” The Diamonds safe house was all but claustrophobic these days - though it turned out this shop wasn’t much better. Alex was working hard, trying to get things moving, but steering the Diamonds felt like a difficult endeavor. It was hard, after all, to try and course correct a ship that big, one that had been moving without direction for too long now.

He was just trying to get a break, bent over his phone when the stranger approached. He glanced up at the man, nodding to the seat across from him. “I don’t think I’ll be here much longer. Not much room to breathe here.” He flashed him a sympathetic smile of understanding, his eyes immediately betraying his exhaustion. “You can call me Jack.”

[alexdiamonds]

need you now | tessa

[alexdiamonds]

tessa-cross:

No matter how much she wanted to, there was no way out of the situation - She couldn’t run to another room (there wasn’t one), there was no slick way to remove the processors, and her slip of the tongue landed them at a topic that couldn’t just be brushed off. Slowly, without realizing it, she continued to back away and create space between the two until her back was against the far wall. Olivia had now quieted herself and taken to nuzzling against her mother’s collarbone but the woman made no motion to put her down. It was for a purely selfish reason: It kept her safe. The admission might as well have been a death wish but the child in her arms would keep Alex from doing the unthinkable if his new leadership position called for it - Or so she hoped.

“No.” The lie came quickly and she furiously shook her head. “You just never liked him. You–” The lump in her throat swelled and she did her best to swallow it down but there was no use in trying once her voice cracked and the words became stuck. Standing there with her eyes locked on him, no matter how blurry the wave of tears made his image, her ability to seamlessly lie was slowly shattering. The hands that kept Olivia close still visibly trembled despite their hold on the girl and Tessa blinked hard, opening the gateway for the tears to fall again. Their fresh streaks caused an immediate pang of guilt and self-hatred at how easily she found herself falling apart again. “You–” You need to leave. The words weren’t forming no matter how many times she tried to talk, more than once her lips moving and nothing coming from them. There was something else that needed to be said, something more important that she couldn’t bring herself to ask any other time he showed back up in her life. There was no telling when she would see him again, not after the confession, and now was as good as ever while she found herself tearing apart any foundation that remained of their relationship. 

“Why–Why do you keep doing this?” Even though she had found her voice it came out as a whisper, a far contrast to her nearly screaming moments ago. “Why do you keep showing up? You broke up with me, Alex.” This wasn’t any better of a topic than the last but she made herself stay on it. “The gifts, the visits, telling me all of that…Why?”

He wasn’t sure whether to believe her, knew she wouldn’t volunteer the truth even if he found his way there. If it was Hartwell, she had liked the man and was still close to Rosalie. That fact still grated on him quite a bit, something he couldn’t really combat, something he couldn’t really understand. He hadn’t believed she’d ever get involved in the Hearts - her distaste for the gang activity had always been palpable, and the gang warfare had literally scarred her for life. But then he had never believed Peter would be one of them either, and well - it was simply getting difficult to figure out what exactly was the truth anymore.

And Tessa was crying, the distance between them a gaping hole again. It should have told him something, really, that every time he came to see her, she started crying or looked terrified to even be in his presence. It begged the exact question she finally asked him, the whisper filling in the silence. 

He didn’t know how to answer, his face falling a little as he tried to figure out how to respond, looking down at the stained hard wood under their feet before he spoke up. “Because I miss you.” He admitted quietly. “Because you’re the only person who knows me that I feel like I can trust, so I need to tell you, because I can’t tell anyone else.” He shrugs quietly. “Because I feel like I owe you the truth after lying for so long.” He swallows, letting that hang for a few beats. “...Because I guess I can’t quite bring myself to stop wanting to see you and I’m selfish.” 

[fyhenrycavill]

cheekbones™

[alexdiamonds]

vincentxrossi:

Vincent chuckled as he took another drink of his beer. It gave him the opportunity to figure out where he was going to go with this conversation. He knew prying would set off alarm bells so the less interested he seemed about ‘Jack’ the better it would be to get to know who he really was. “Just unwinding. After 10 hours of nothing but straight paperwork, I need something to help forget all the boring files I went through today.”

“Christ. Ten hours? Who’d you piss off to win that shift? I’ve been there a few times” Alex frowned a little bit, sympathetic to that - familiar with long days of grunt work thrown at him when he had managed to piss off his supervisor at the Herald. God if that didn’t seem like a lifetime ago. “What do you do?” It was an innocuous enough question, passing the time. Two years ago he would have passed the time by finding someone to drag home to bed, but the time for that seemed long past. Now he was just swapping sad life stories with strangers. That was so depressing. “I’m a writer. The Post.” Wrong paper, but it made catching the lie a little simpler. Not to mention Jack was a common enough name he could usually get away with it. 

[alexdiamonds]

thequeenxfhearts:

Bars. Places where one came to drown their sorrows. Or maybe that was just her. Whenever she was at her lowest, she ended up in a dive bar where the floor was stickier than anything a toddler could ever come up with. But as she stepped inside this particular bar, she spotted a familiar face drinking at the bar. She sat, automatically ordering a whiskey as her gaze turned to Alexander Cole. “And here I thought I was the only Grinch this year.” She tipped her glass in his direction, draining the contents before motioning for another. “Let me guess, murder and mayhem isn’t all its cracked up to be when everyone is dressed like Santa?”

“No, I don’t guess it is.” He saw no reason to beat around the bush, pretend to be something he wasn’t. A stupid decision, maybe, but he was too damn tired to put up pretenses. At least she didn’t seem to know how his situation had changed with the Diamonds. “Things have been awfully quiet from your neck of the woods. I’d have expected a little more murder and mischief. Seems like Christmas is the perfect time for some crazy asshole dressed in all red to be breaking into people’s houses.” He glanced at her sideways, brow arched. Of course he suspected that tradition was long gone, but he didn’t press the point for now. “I can’t decide if this or drinking alone at home is a worse way to spend Christmas.”

[alexdiamonds]

marshallford:

He hadn’t considered the advantages of having a boss who no one knew about. Alex was an enigma. Marshall had barely been aware of his existence and was surprised that Alex was the one elevated over Tenzin, but he figured that Wren knew what he was doing. From the outside, it would like look the Diamonds were in more chaos than they actually were. Granted, they were in a bit of a situation with the Feds breathing down their necks, but the Hearts or Kings may try to force an opportunity that they would be able to seize upon. 

“I’ll see what they’re up to.” It may not have been much, but it was something to keep him occupied. Like the Diamonds, the two other gangs had seemingly gone underground no doubt plotting their next move. He was up for anything that kept him from being the certified guard dog. Not that he didn’t appreciate all that Wren and the Diamonds had offered him the past few years. Without knowing, they had kept him from spiraling and making some regrettable choices. Like reenlisting when he felt like he had no place else to go.

“And what of Wren?” he decided to turn the conversation to the elephant in the room. Marshall had felt it best that he stayed clear of the investigation and where Wren was currently being incarcerated. He had relied on second hand information from the rest of the gang and at this point was unable to decipher what was truth and what was exaggerated paranoia. “I’m guessin’ we just have to sit around and wait to see what they do with him.“

What of Wren? Wasn’t that the question? Alex had no idea what would happen here. The man had the best lawyers in the city working his case - the benefit of money - but the evidence was also falling right into the Feds’ laps. Wren had been smart, no doubt about that, and eventually the defense would pull the right strings and get him free on some loophole or technicality. Alex’s only concern right now was how long would it take before that happened.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” He admitted. “...Based on what people were saying, it sounds like he’ll go away, but I don’t know how long. I’ve been thinking about trying to pull on some connections I have in the newspapers and the cops we’ve got in our pocket to see what they can dig up. Miner, Hawthorne, a few other guys. Someone’s got to know something.” There was no reason not to be transparent as much as possible. 

After a beat, he stood up, carding a hand through his hair - an unofficial dismissal of sorts, though he left it hanging. “...Anything else? I want to hear it all. What people are thinking. I can’t get to everyone, but I’m trying my damnedest to get us through this shitstorm.”

[alexdiamonds]

need you now | tessa

[alexdiamonds]

tessa-cross:

“Yes you can, Alex. It takes more than one person to run a gang and Goddamned Wren Diamond runs half this fucking city - He can pick someone else!” It didn’t matter that the distance between them closed, Tessa’s voice remained raised. Nothing else around them seemed to matter now. This was the most the two had spoken since the break up, more than just clipped and awkward sentences though now she would gladly take that over his news. Some sick part of her wished he had kept her in the dark all along, kept up the guise and the lies if it meant not having this conversation - Though would that really be better than where they were now?

“More connections?” Thin brows pinched in and Tessa’s grip on Olivia instinctively tightened as her mind clung to the single word. “More? Who do you have now?” Her scoff was nearly lost behind Olivia’s whimpers. Her own emotions were whirling around in a fury and before she knew it words were flying out of her mouth, her own confession. “No one you have following me can keep me safer than I already have because I know who He is, Goddamnit! I know who Sixes is–” The words came to a screeching halt, her lips half parted as if more were ready to be said but all that came out was a soft sound. The painful realization of what she had just said set in quickly and she shifted back a step, eyes wide. In her arms Olivia had now become silent except for the occasional hiccup or whimper. The tears that had sprung to Tessa’s eyes earlier returned, but because of their argument. The mention of Sixes rushed the memory of unmasking him to the forefront of her mind, the memory of the phone call regarding Matthew’s death close behind. It took all of her effort to speak up again, lips moving a second before her voice finally followed, words catching around the knot that had formed in her throat. “I’m not telling you. You can’t make me.”

“No - I really can’t.” He knew that he could never really make her see the full picture. Some part of him was grateful she didn’t understand it all, didn’t see how this worked. Wren wasn’t exactly a cruel man (not to his members, at least), but he couldn’t have denied him, at least not in the moment. Some part in her words made him wonder, though - wonder if maybe he’d just been telling himself that to make this feel better, denying the truth that he almost wanted it. After all, without her, without anyone who really mattered left in his life in any tangible way, the Diamonds were all he had. 

The whole train of thought came to a screeching halt at her confession, put on hold for later at the words. I know who Sixes is. It made his stomach twist, uncertain because he had to wonder, distantly, how much else she knew, how close she was to the Hearts. Had it been like that all along? Had they gotten to her because of him? Or had he just been blinded (again), fooled because he’d loved her and not seen the truth of her connections that was right there in front of him.

I could if I wanted. The thought hit him but he didn’t dare voice it, more of a knee-jerk instinct that almost scared him in its cruelty. Instead he simply just looked at her for a few long moments, the teary eyes that looked full of fear, something that stung like it did every other time, even though his confusion and betrayal.

“Matthew Hartwell.” He posited instead, the realization striking him. She worked for the fucker, and some part of him had suspected Hartwells all along anyway. “It is him, isn’t it? Or was.” He swallowed, holding her gaze and trying to keep his face even. “I always thought it made sense.”

[alexdiamonds]

@tessa-cross

You made plans and I, I made problems We were sleeping back to back We know this thing wasn't built to last and Good on paper Picture perfect Chased the high too far, too fast Picket white fence, but we paint it black Ooh, and I wished you had hurt me harder than I hurt you Ooh, and I wish you wouldn't wait for me but you always do I've been hoping Somebody loves you in the ways I couldn't Somebody's taking care of All of the mess I've made Someone you don't have to change I've been hoping Someone will love you, let me go 

[alexdiamonds]

thesilentstone:

As he listened to Alex’s concerns, he knew he had to step up his own game and help this newly promoted Diamonds Leader. Locking his gaze with Alex’s, he didn’t budge. Hell, his demeanor was calm and full of strength since it seemed that Alex needed someone who knew what the fuck they were doing. “For how long I’ve been with the Diamonds, you would think that I’d be the first person you’d talk to. But, we’ll put that pettiness aside.” He said with a smirk and a wink, still keeping his gaze on the other’s. “I have been the lowest rung in this gang up to where I am and I can tell you that the worst job is the clean up crew. My advice to you is to start there. I’m not saying literally go out there and do the clean up with some new kids. I’m talking sit with them while they practice their skills and see what they do. Hell, I’ll fucking do it with you. The point is to get your hands dirty first, not just killing, but cleaning up after it all. Wren knew more because he grew up in this world. You didn’t. You get to do what I did and start from the bottom. That way you gain knowledge as well as respect for literally everyone that is working to your bidding.”

Alex relaxed at least marginally at Tucker’s words, considering the notion. It was a good idea truthfully. A simultaneously positive and negative aspect of their organization was that the Diamonds were deeply compartmentalized, encounters between the different groups rarer than one would think. He knew next to nothing about any of it. And Tucker was right - Wren had been born into his position, Alex had been dropped into it.

He huffed a quiet sigh, sitting back at the desk. “....That’s a good start, yeah. Clean up crew, drug dealers.... That sort of thing. I’ve been working with the security staff to focus on keeping this place safe, and trying to figure out how to get us somewhere... better. Everyone hates the safehouse, but we can’t go back to Diamond Corp. Don’t know how to approach that.” He pinches his brow. “It just feels like Wren getting arrested was something we should have seen coming but no one fucking planned for. And I still don’t understand why he wanted me.”